Wash away the sins of you and i
by aerisofthewhite
Summary: Neither Sam nor Emily really wanted each other. It was just thrust upon them. /Here comes the water\ Sam/Emily


W_ash away the **S**__ins of **Y**__ou and _**I**

_Part One- When you look, you see right through me_

**E**mily **Y**oung didn't like Samuel Uley. Not now and not ever. He had always been loud and obnoxious. He had a nice smile, but he knew all the right times to use it, to get what he wanted. He had his innocent expression and a wicked smirk and both bothered her. He was the one who had an answer to every question and it was always an answer she rolled her eyes at, frowned upon. Always the plan that got them into trouble. Behind every prank they pulled, every beer keg on the beach, every security guard with a flash light telling them to _stop right there!_ was Sam Uley. And behind him was always Leah, with Emily following dutifully after her, trying to reduce the damage as best she could.

Leah used to tell her to play nice, that he was a great guy if given the chance. She wanted to tell Leah that she _was_ playing nice, that if it were any other boy- if he didn't completely adore Leah the way he did- she'd fight harder. Possibly something involving teeth. She wanted to tell her cousin that half of the time, it was all she could do not to punch him in his arrogant face and break his pretty nose.

But she couldn't. Because she could see how tough this was for her cousin and how hard she was working to keep balance, to not leave one of them feeling abandoned. She knew she wouldn't be helping by starting up some feud. So she grew soft and only told Leah that she could do better.

-Really, she wasn't sure that her cousin could do better- his only redeeming quality (the only thing they had in common) was his love for Leah- but that didn't mean she had to admit it. That didn't mean she had to support him. That didn't mean she had to like him. That didn't mean she even had to try or pretend. She just had to accept it.

She knew she didn't really know Sam Uley well enough to fairly dislike him, that he was good to Leah, seemed to truly care about her and he was well-liked on the Reservation- but she reckoned that it was his fault that he was always too preoccupied with her cousin to ever try to get to know her, even just for Leah's sake, and so he didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt and he certainly didn't deserve her co-operation.

So she left the Reservation- and she doesn't know why, only that she felt she had to all at once- without ever really speaking more than perhaps a string of three word to that Sam Uley fellow, hating him and wishing that Leah would see the light (but begrudgingly- secretly- supporting his claim over her cousin's heart). And in time, she forgot him

(Only not quite).

(Emily Young somehow forgot that she had been the one to first notice Sam Uley their first day of high school, that she had been the one to whisper and giggle about him, that she had been the one to smile up at him as he walked by. She made herself forget because he'd smiled back- but to the girl beside her. But that was normal- Leah was the pretty one, got all the appraising smiles and she was used to it. It wasn't like she didn't get enough smiles of her own. She was Leah's friend and she was supportive and she couldn't be jealous, not ever, especially not over someone like Sam Uley, who matched Leah so much better. So she forgot and eventually found herself convinced that Sam Uley wasn't worth it anyway.)

(-)

**S**am **U**ley didn't really notice Emily Young. Not ever. She just didn't really register.

It was nothing personal. She was a pretty girl (honestly, he had never really looked closely), everyone had nice things to say about her (or probably did, if, you know, he would bother to ask), she went to parties and wore skirts and drank with everyone (...didn't she?). She probably worked hard and loved animals and babies, wanted world peace and all the rest. But she just- wasn't remarkable enough for him. She had always been there, present for all the big occasions but always in the peripheral, always on the other side of Leah, never really close enough to have a conversation with, never really making a big enough impression on him.

He'd have more to say on the subject, but he hadn't even realised how much he over-looked her until just before she left.

He remembered that she had been dating his best friend for almost 4 months, and the four of them had spent most days of a summer together, but couldn't recollect a lot of what they'd done on those warm lazy days (maybe he had taught her how to surf..?).

He'd feel a little bad about it- but honestly, whenever Emily Young was around, Leah was around and he was usually too preoccupied with her to notice the cousin. A guy can't be blamed for that, right? In fact, he should be commended for it, having eyes for a single girl only.

He couldn't even remember talking to her at all before she left, couldn't remember coming to her, asking for advice about Leah or trying to set her up with one of his friends (not that he needed to, she was popular enough- probably- and besides, the Reservation was so small that they shared the same friends. Or so he assumed). The only things he could remember about her were the frowns, the eye-rolling, the grumbles whenever he would invade upon the cousins' confidence- and those certainly didn't endear him to try to get to know her.

Leah had told him to make an effort with her. He didn't think he really deserved this- it wasn't his fault that she didn't seem to like him or that she avoided him wherever possible. But he said he'd try. That one time he had tried to talk to her, she had looked up at him in incredulity, had been sarcastic and dismissive and blunt in her answers and had disappeared as soon as Leah had materialised by way of distraction. He decided it wasn't worth it and the sooner this girl was gone, the better.

(Sam Uley suspected that Emily Young resented him for getting in between the cousin's friendship and it angered him. Once, on the eve of her going away- in a darker mood when his tongue had loosened by beer- he was even close to asking if she was just bitter that her cousin had found love, when she hadn't been so fortunate- and maybe never would be. He'd held back on this matter, but refused to be made to feel guilty about thinking it. It wasn't his fault she didn't try to like him and he most certainly wasn't going to apologise for it, if he made her cousin happy, when all Emily Young was good for was running away.)


End file.
